Time & Task Management
- Chunk your time. Set an alarm for 25 minutes, during which you tackle the task in a burst and then take 5 minutes break.
- Many adults with ADHD find the bullet journal method helpful. How to ADHD has a helpful YouTube video about bullet journaling which you can find on this link here here.
- Schedule reminders. Where you use a paper or a digital calendar/planner, it can be helpful to put a note about an upcoming appointment/date in your diary on the date it’s scheduled and in advance of the date, like a week or two ahead of time. This way if you have something scheduled way in advance, it is in your periphery and awareness rather than taking you by surprise.
- Create time. It might be helpful to allow for time blindness by setting clocks a little faster so you’re more likely to be ahead of time rather than trying to catch up with it. Many ADHDers can underestimate how long a task will take so it can be useful to account for tasks taking 50% longer than they will when you are scheduling.
- The Next Thing (TNT) is a way of managing your tasks lists if you feel overwhelmed. Think about the very next step you have to take. When you sit down to work, know what your next immediate (small!) task is. This is especially helpful for adults who have ADHD as executive functioning differences in processing can sometimes make tasks feel very overwhelming and it can be hard to know where to start. The TNT might be ‘write two paragraphs’, ‘take the vegetables out of the fridge’ or ‘find the laundry basket’. Make it small and manageable so you can take the next step.
- Break down the task. If you have a project due in a week, you could try to figure out how much you need to get done each day. Then look at the goal and break it down into 30-minute segments (25 minutes of focus/5 minutes for a break) and slot them into your daily plan.
- If you have someone you trust and feel comfortable doing so with, it might be worth seeking their thoughts on what tasks should be prioritised or how long a task might take.
